Oslo or Stockholm?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both offer the same short summer of swimming, but in different ways. In Oslo the classic outing is a harbour ferry to Hovedøya or Langøyene for rocky shores and small coves, or a jump from the diving platforms at Sørenga, with Sognsvann lake at the end of a metro line.

Stockholm lets you swim almost anywhere in town: the rock slabs of Långholmen, Smedsuddsbadet on Kungsholmen, the freshwater lakes at Hellasgården. The archipelago adds jetties and coves a ferry ride out. The water in Oslo is salty fjord, while in Stockholm it is a mix of brackish Baltic and lake.

Stockholm eats better day to day. Beyond its Nordic tasting menus it has a living tradition of husmanskost, meaning meatballs with lingonberries, fried herring and toast skagen in old-fashioned dining rooms, and Östermalms Saluhall shows it all off. The weekday lunch deal also makes eating well affordable.

Oslo matches it at the top end with tasting menus built on cold-water fish and game. Below that it is mostly brunch places, bistros and the Mathallen food hall. Its strengths are the coffee, among the best anywhere, and prawns eaten on the quay in summer.

Stockholm has the deeper set of sights and the old townscape to go with them. Gamla Stan's medieval lanes and the Royal Palace fill one island, and Djurgården has the almost complete seventeenth-century Vasa warship and Skansen. The woodland cemetery Skogskyrkogården adds a UNESCO site.

Oslo's appeal is art and modern landmarks rather than old streets. The Munch Museum and The Scream, Vigeland Park's granite figures and the Opera House roof you can walk up are memorable, and the polar ships on Bygdøy are a real highlight. Still, two or three days cover it, and there is little old architecture between the sights.

Stockholm offers more range after dark. You can choose between the polished clubs of Stureplan, with strict doors and a dressed-up crowd going until the small hours, and the easier neighbourhood bars and small dance floors of Södermalm.

Oslo is better for a relaxed evening than a big one. Craft beer and natural wine bars in Grünerløkka and around Youngstorget are the core, with a few electronic clubs. In both cities summer evenings move outdoors to the waterfront, and drinks are dear enough that locals start at home.

Oslo wins for anyone who wants to be on foot or skis. The metro ends at the edge of Nordmarka, a huge forest of lakes, trails and waffle-serving cabins, and in winter hundreds of kilometres of ski tracks, downhill slopes and a toboggan run sit inside the public transport network. The fjord islands add gentler summer kayaking.

Stockholm's landscape is water more than wood: the archipelago of granite islands begins at the quayside, and Tyresta's old-growth forest is within about forty minutes. In a cold winter you can skate long distances on natural ice. It has no hills to speak of, though, so the variety of terrain is Oslo's advantage.

Stockholm has the stronger list of outings. Uppsala's cathedral and royal burial mounds are a short train ride away, Drottningholm Palace is a boat trip across Lake Mälaren, and in summer boats run to Viking Birka, Gripsholm Castle and Vaxholm out in the archipelago.

Oslo's best day out is the star-shaped fortress town of Fredrikstad, with wooden Drøbak by boat and Lillehammer's Olympic ski jumps further north. These are pleasant, but none would draw you on its own, and the famous fjords are much too far for a day trip.

Stockholm is the clear choice with children. Djurgården bundles Skansen's Nordic animals, the Junibacken ride through Astrid Lindgren's stories and the Gröna Lund amusement park on one island, and an aquarium and natural history museum cover wet days.

Oslo is just as safe and easy with a pushchair, and climbing aboard the Fram polar ship or running up the Opera House roof are real treats. It has no zoo, aquarium or major theme park in town, though, so families will need to work harder to fill a week.

Both are easy to manage without a car, with a single integrated network of metro, trams, buses and ferries. Oslo's centre is the more compact, one walk from the Royal Palace down to the harbour, and an airport express train brings you straight in.

Stockholm is spread over fourteen islands, so walks between sights cross bridges and climb Södermalm's steep streets. In return, the harbour ferries double as sightseeing and the painted rock metro stations are a sight in their own right.

Stockholm is a destination for Scandinavian design and minimalist fashion. Swedish labels line Biblioteksgatan and Norrmalmstorg, NK is a grand old department store, and the independent and vintage shops of SoFo on Södermalm are central to local style.

Oslo is tidier and thinner. Karl Johans gate has the chains and Steen & Strøm the Nordic brands, while Grünerløkka has records and vintage. What Oslo does well is things to take home, especially patterned knitwear and serious outdoor clothing.

Both are expensive, but Oslo is the harder on the wallet, with meals, coffee and especially alcohol costing even more. Free sights such as Vigeland Park, the forest trails and the fjord islands help, as does a transport pass that covers the ferries, but supermarket picnics are part of most budget plans.

Stockholm gives you more ways round the cost. The weekday lunch deal is a proper meal for much less than dinner, and hotel rooms are noticeably cheaper at weekends and through July, when business travel drops away.

The two are evenly matched, each with a fine opera house and a respected philharmonic. Oslo's draws are seeing opera or ballet in the oak-lined hall of its harbour Opera House, Ibsen in his own city, and summer music and jazz festivals.

Stockholm has a rarer prize: baroque opera in summer at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre, still using its original eighteenth-century stage machinery. Its pop and live-music culture is also bigger, and there are Swedish-language musicals. In both cities spoken theatre is mostly in the local language.

Both relax through the sauna, but the setting differs. Oslo's wood-fired saunas float in the harbour by the Opera House and at Sørenga, and they are public and sociable, with a ladder down into the fjord in any season.

Stockholm leans more towards the historic bathhouse. Centralbadet, an Art Nouveau building from 1904, and the older Sturebadet are city spas, and waterside spa hotels in Nacka and the inner archipelago are less than an hour away. Neither has thermal springs.